Tuesday, 23 April 2013

We are on the way back
from the Greek island of Lesvos. There, at the campus of the University of the
Aegean in Mytilini, we have been teaching a 1-week course in marine algal biology
– a first-ever both for the University of the Aegean and also our home
university, Aberdeen.

Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean

Attendance of senior
undergraduate and MSc students to our classes was completely voluntary. We
jointly gave the following general lectures: Introduction to Phycology, Seaweed
Ecology, Molecular techniques in Phycology. We furthermore gave 2 lectures more
closely related to some of our own current research activities, Seaweed Biodiversity around the Antarctic
Convergence I/II,and we held a
practical in seaweed identification. Finally, we organized 3 dive excursions to
the waters around Lesvos – two to Charamida and one to Petra (special
thanks to Giorgos Filios / Lesvoscuba as well as Lio, Argyro and the University
of the Aegean Scuba Team) – for collecting seaweed specimens for our classes
and an introductory session in underwater photography.

Petra, Lesvos Island

We were truly
impressed by the enthusiasm of the students. None of
them was anyhow expected to attend, but it looked to us that they were seizing
an opportunity that they would otherwise not be getting in their regular
curriculum. As we heard from many sides, the conditions of working and studying
at their university (like in most other higher education institutions in
Greece) has certainly become much worse in recent years due to the severe
economic crisis.

From the left: Dr. Maria Kostopoulou-Karadanelli (Assistant professor at the University of Aegean), Alexandra Mystikou and Prof. Frithjof Kuepper

In summary, a most
gratifying and rewarding experience. We will try to use some of our experiences
from Lesvos to add new content and value to our regular teaching at Aberdeen. A
wild thought – would it be worthwhile to organize a joint marine phycology
course for students of both universities, Aberdeen and the Aegean, in Mytilini,
for the Easter Break?